Women’s basketball Senior Day this Sunday against Northwestern
KCJJ Staff
02/27/19
Megan Gustafson has seen the Iowa women’s basketball scoring record set. She then reset it.
She saw the team miss the NCAA Tournament for two years. She then helped guide them back.
Now for her final act, the superstar senior wants to end her time at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on a high note.
“I think my expectations were about just kind of about putting effort in no matter what it was,” Gustafson said of what she expected of herself coming into Iowa. “Trying to improve myself every single day. You know, I think that’s kind of everyone’s mentality going into it and just working as hard as I possibly can. I think that was my expectation and then just see what happens after that.”
What happened after that was Gustafson setting the school’s all-time scoring record – woman or man – and all-time rebounding record – woman or man – along with getting Iowa its first top ten ranking in 22 years, as she notes, the year she was born.
“She’s obviously an amazing, talented basketball player, one of the best in the United States,” head coach Lisa Bluder said on Wednesday, fighting back tears. “But it’s all the other stuff. I mean, we’ve had players that have been low-maintenance players. Megan has been absolutely no maintenance. We’ve had to do nothing to motivate her, nothing to get her to work hard, nothing. She has given us zero, zero issues since she’s been on our campus.”
Fellow senior Hannah Stewart has seen – and felt – the greatness of Gustafson as much as anyone, going up against her in practice for four years. She says they roomed together the first summer they arrived on campus, saying at the time little did she know she was playing with someone who would become one of the best players in the country.
“It became pretty evident right when we stepped on the court for those scrimmages freshman year that this girl is something special,” Stewart said. “Maybe not exactly her talent right away but just by her work ethic. I think just by how many gym minutes she logged right away you could tell this is someone special.
“Guarding her was not fun at all, ever.”
The Hawkeyes will host their Senior Day celebration on Sunday, with the final regular season game of 2018-19 taking place at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. However, it may not be the last time for Iowa fans to watch her at home, with Iowa currently in line to host two rounds of NCAA Tournament games.
“It’s kind of uncertain right now going into Senior Day, I don’t know if it’s going to be my last time playing in Carver,” Gustafson said. “Hopefully it won’t be my last time but I know it’ll be an exciting time. And I know (fellow seniors) Hannah and Tania (Davis) will say the same thing – that we’re just really excited going into Sunday and give it our all, even if it is our last time.”
Sunday’s game tips off at 3 p.m. on BTN.